Boosting the evolutionary picture of Cl 0024+17 and MS 0451-03: A case study at intermediate-redshift

TL;DR

This study refines the understanding of the dynamical states of two intermediate-redshift galaxy clusters, revealing their non-relaxed, merging, and evolving nature through detailed spectroscopic and kinematic analyses.

Contribution

It provides a comprehensive dynamical analysis of Cl 0024+17 and MS 0451-03, identifying substructures and non-equilibrium features that enhance the evolutionary understanding of these clusters.

Findings

Both clusters are non-relaxed with distinct dynamical states.

Cl 0024+17 shows signs of a merger with disturbed kinematics.

MS 0451-03 is also out of equilibrium, with substructures and velocity distribution non-Gaussianity.

Abstract

In this work we improve the dynamic-evolutionary framework of two massive clusters at intermediate redshifts: Cl 0024+17 at $z \sim 0.4$ and MS 0451-03 at $z \sim 0.5$. The spectroscopic galaxy members were selected from Moran et al. (2007a), which combine optical and UV imaging with spectroscopy. Using a set of dynamic estimators with different approaches, our results show that both Cl 0024+17 and MS 0451-03 are non-relaxed systems with distinct dynamical configurations. Cl 0024+17 exhibits a disturbed kinematics, displaying significant gaps and a velocity dispersion profile suggesting a merger. This is confirmed by the presence of previously reported substructures and new ones identified in this study. MS 0451-03 appears less disturbed than Cl 0024+17, indicating by the significant segregation between late and early-type galaxies, with the latter occupying more central regions of the projected phase-space. However, five previously unobserved substructures and non-Gaussianity in the velocity distribution indicate that MS 0451-03 is also out of equilibrium. In both clusters, there are substructures infalling onto the systems, indicating key moments in their assembly histories and potential effects on the pre-processing of galaxies within these subgroups. This is suggested by the high percentage of early-type galaxies outside $R_{200}$ (approximately $83\%$) in the case of CL 0024+17. This work reinforces the importance of more detailed dynamical analysis of clusters to better characterize their evolutionary picture.